So I’ve been working on doing Pokemon Crystal for RetroAchievements. One of the achievements is the dreaded “CATCH THEM ALL” achievement, where you quite literally have to catch all possible Pokemon without trading and any scenario where just getting a Pokemon is impossible without a link cable. It is a very time consuming achievement, as you will more than likely be working on it for the entire game and longer, but personally, I seem to be one of very few people who actually like the achievement because it tests your knowledge and your willpower for trying to get every Pokemon possible. Some people think the achievement is pretty much impossible or way too difficult, but considering it’s an achievement and it tests you on pretty much the fundamental concept of the series “Gotta Catch ’em All,” I support it.

After going on a huge rant in the comments section of this particular achievement, someone mentioned making a guide for this achievement to maybe help people who are trying to catch all the pokemon. I was interested in this challenge so I’m going to try and help out in any way that I can. First thing I’m going to do is just list all the Pokemon that you can get and how you go about obtaining them (or the easiest way to obtain them). Then I’ll feature a list of the Pokemon that you just can’t get period (without trading). And then I’ll have a few sections where I talk about some tricks or other things you can do to make this task more manageable. Even with that being said, the task is still tedious and long. Even though I will more than likely be mastering this game in a total of 4 or 5 stream sessions, they are still 6-8 hour stream sessions, so it will take probably an entire day of your life. But you don’t have to do the entire game in one day either, so keep that in mind. Don’t burn yourself out with this.

Don’t forget that patch of grass North of the first route (29). Very easy place to get Spearow and better than the alternative of waiting until Headbutt. You can also get a free Spearow (Kenya) from the guardhouse north of Goldenrod, since you don’t have to finish the quest.

Won’t be getting this rascal until you are in Kanto, unless you get Pichu from the Odd Egg at the Daycare, but at that point, I wouldn’t bother evolving Pichu because happiness evolutions are annoying. As for the Thunder Stone evolutions, I will have a section after this list explaining the way to get stones. Because this is Crystal, you can get all evolution stones, unlike Gold and Solver (not counting duplication strats). Also, remember that showing Pichu to Bill’s Grandpa will yield a Thunder Stone.

Much like Pikachu, you could get lucky and get Cleffa with Odd Egg, but again, Happiness Evolution is better ignored for other Pokemon who need it no matter what (like Golbat, Togepi, Umbreon, Espeon and Chansey), so if you get Cleffa, just box it and wait for Clefairy. Moon Stone will be explained later.

Pretty much copy/paste Clefairy family’s description. Only difference is you can find Jigglypuff much earlier, even before you arrive at the Daycare! Don’t bother evolving Igglybuff and Moon Stone will be gotten later.

Zubat may be found earlier, but let’s face it, we will probably be seeing this bugger in Union Cave first. As for Crobat, I will have an explanation on Happiness later, but for now, just try to focus on leveling up Zubat without having it faint to give it a boost.

I do like how they give the Violet City side of Route 36 a patch of grass because you can get Growlithe here. As for Fire Stone, wait til after this part of the guide for Fire Stone explanation. Speaking of which, Bill’s Grandpa will give Fire Stone if you show him Growlithe.

Poliwhirl is my favorite pokemon, so I love the addition of an early Poliwag! Special thing to note; Politoed is a trade evolution so he is NOT REQUIRED! Also, Water Stone will be explained later, but is possible.

– Abra: Route 34, All
– Kadabra: Evolve Abra at Level 16

Good luck catching Abra before he teleports! Also, Alakazam not required due to trade evolution.

When you surf to Cianwood, you will more than likely find this family.

– Geodude: Route 46, All
– Graveler: Evolve Geodude at Level 25

Like Spearow, you can get this pretty early, and it’s very recommended that you do (especially if you can snag a female one) so you can easily go through the first three gyms. Golem is obviously excluded because trade evolution.

Despite what people might say, it is possible to get all 3 Hitmons. Just breed whatever Hitmon you get and try for another one. You will have to in order to get all of them. It is also possible to get Tyrogue very early in the game via the Odd Egg, but if you don’t, you will have to make the trek through Mt. Mortar.

– Lickitung: Route 44, Morning and Day

Very simple pick-up on Route 44. Also, you may need it to progress the Bill’s Grandpa stone give-aways, but he will not give you an evolutionary stone. Just a stupid Everstone.

Normally I would say to ignore evolving Rhyhorn and just catch Rhydon, since you can find Rhydon at Victory Road as well, but Rhyhorn is very close to evolving….FOR ONCE.

– Chansey: Route 13-15, All
– Blissey: Evolve Chansey with Happiness

You won’t get either of these until late game, but one thing you should keep in mind is that you will need a second Chansey for an Aerodactyl trade. You can either just catch a second one or just breed the Blissey you will end up getting.

I don’t know why they changed this from Gold/Silver, because Magmar could be gotten in Burned Tower in those games. However, now you need to wait til the secondary endgame. That is, unless you get Magby via the egg which is more than possible. In that case, you could probably get Magmar before even entering Kanto. It’s up to you though.

– Pinsir: Bug Catching Contest

Pretty much copy/paste of Scyther’s description. Thankfully these two pokemon are the only two you need from Bug Catching Contest.

– Tauros: Route 38, Morning and Day

Again, thankfully this is not Gen 1 and the damn Safari Zone. Tauros is actually pretty easy to get, even if it may take awhile to find him.

– Magikarp: OLD ROD ANYWHERE
– Gyarados: Evolve Magikarp at Level 20

Yep, we all know how to get Magikarp. Now it’s just a matter of figuring out when and where to get one. The closest to Level 20, the better.

– Lapras, Union Cave, FRIDAY

You can find Lapras on Friday in the lowest floor of the basement. You even interact with it on the map to fight it. That simple!

We all know how the Eevees work. But yeah, once you get one of the evolutions, breed for another Eevee and go down a different path. Also, explanations on evolution stones later in the guide, as usual.

– Porygon: Celadon Game Corner

Save that money and don’t lose it…you will be spending A LOT of it here for Porygon. Also, won’t need Porygon2, so….at least there is that?

– Aerodactyl: Route 12 (TRADE)

Don’t let this fool you, Old Amber may not be in the game, but you can get Aerodactyl via trading with an NPC on Route 12. Now, I know that this achievement asks for “NO TRADING,” but the trading in question is via Game Link. In-game NPC trades are fine and required. You need a Chansey to make this trade, so grab one on Route 13 before you do this.

– Snorlax: Vermillion City

You only have one shot for this big boy, so make it count! Pretty much required to make him move too.

I hate raising Dratini and Dragoniar, but it is required for this achievement. You get Dratini as a gift in Dragon’s Den after beating Clair and getting the Dragonbreath TM from the Elders of the Shrine. But you may want to wait until you have the Super Rod to fish a Level 40 Dratini so you only have to raise it 40 levels. It’s still a long process though….

Is it just me, or is Snubbull not a Swarm Pokemon anymore? Regardless….not too hard of a find.

– Qwilfish: Route 32, FISHING SWARM

Fisherman Ralph is your guy for Qwilfish, but once you have the Super Rod, it’s not too hard to find by yourself anyway.

– Shuckle: Cianwood City, Gift or Rock Smash

In Cianwood City, you have an NPC who will just give you a Shuckle to train for him, which will essentially take care of him for the Pokedex. If you want to catch one yourself though, Rock Smashes yield them 10% of the time.

– Heracross: Azalea Town, HEADBUTT

This guy is THE WORST to get for Headbutting…..but keep at it and eventually you will get him.

Like I said with Staryu, pretty much the same idea, but during the Day and Morning instead.

– Delibird: Ice Path, Night

This guy runs…a lot. Get ready for that before attempting to fight him!

– Mantine: Route 41

He’s got a low chance of appearing, but he is there! Just surf around Whirl Islands for a bit and he’ll show up!

– Skarmory: Route 45, Morning or Day

Like Gligar, another one-off you can find on Route 45

– Houndour: Route 7, Night
– Houndoom: Evolve Houndour at Level 24

He is easier to find in Crystal than the other Gen 2 games, but he still has Roar, so watch out for that.

– Phanpy: Route 46, Morning
– Donphan: Evolve Phanpy at Level 25

In the words of Chuggaaconroy; “OH MY GOD! I FOUND A PHANPY!” It can run though, so be careful. Very early catch though…..

– Stantler: Route 37, Night

Stantler is silly.

– Smeargle: Ruins of Alph (grass)

Forget what I said about Stantler, Smeargle is sillier.

– Miltank: Route 38, Morning and Day

Pretty much like Tauros.

– Raikou: ROAMING LEGENDARY
– Entei: ROAMING LEGENDARY

Welp, you are going to hate these guys. BUT, because we are playing Crystal, you technically only have to find and chip away the health of one of them and can use the Master Ball on the other one (since Suicune is not roaming in Crystal). Do yourself a favor and save the Master Ball for one of these guys. Lugia and Ho-oh might be annoying too, but they at least don’t move around the map, unlike these jerks.

– Suicune: Tin Tower

THANK YOU CRYSTAL! Because you exist, Suicune isn’t too bad to capture. It still may take a lot of Ultra Balls, but at least it doesn’t freaking move around.

Regardless of who you pick at the beginning, you will miss out on the other 6 starter pokemon (2 families).

So with all of these taken into consideration, that is 45 Pokemon that cannot be obtained in Crystal without use of a game link cable. The other 206 are fair game which means…

206 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER!

III. Stone Evolutions

So there are 17 Pokemon that need an evolutionary stone to evolve, and this is where a huge bit of confusion comes into play, especially if you played Gold and Silver to death, but not Crystal. Why? Because in order to get this achievement, you need all of these pokemon, but in Gold and Silver, you have a limited number of stones you can use because you cannot buy them or make them appear randomly. You only get one water, leaf, thunder and fire stone in those games, and the rest of the pokemon you have to trade from another version. Thankfully though, Crystal did fix this problem….a little. You now have a second method of obtaining stones, but this way is kind of random. I’ll get into that later though, because there are also Moon and Sun stones as well.

A. Moon Stones – Moon Stones can be gotten at the Mt. Moon outside area by rock smashing the stone and investigating that square after witnessing the Clefairys dancing. You can witness this every Monday night (only once) and you will get a Moon Stone every time. Your mom can also get a moon stone with you money AND there is a hidden one in Tohjo Falls (I think). Either way, you have an infinite amount. You only need 4 though.

B. Sun Stones – You only need two of these and you can get them by winning first place in the Bug Catching Contest. Win twice, and there are your two Sun Stones. Save before the Bug Catching Contest in case you don’t win and want to try again.

C. Fire, Water, Thunder and Leaf Stones – Ok, so normally, you would get these stones from Bill’s Grandpa if you show him a Growlithe, Pichu, Oddish and Staryu. You get one stone of each type and that is pretty much how you finish the Gold and Silver Pokedex achievements. In Crystal, you need all the possible ones you need, so 2 thunder stones, 2 fire stones (since Vulpix is omitted), 3 leaf stones, and 4 water stones. How is this possible? PHONE NUMBERS! That’s right, 4 trainers in Pokemon Crystal can find stones for you, and it is imperative that you get their number, because sometimes they may be able to help you out earlier than you think. These trainers are Picnicker Gina (Route 34), Schoolboy Alan (Route 36, Fisherman Tully (Route 42) and Lass Dana (Route 38). They can find leaf, fire, water and thunder stones respectively. Now, the trainers will call you randomly every hour, and even if one of these guys call you, there is still a chance that they will call to just brag about their pokemon or challenge you to a battle, so there is no guarantee that you will get rewarded. You just have to wait and pray that you get lucky.

D. Stone Duplication – There is also a method for stone duplication which….seems kind of sketchy….but since it’s a strategy you CAN use in the original cartridge, I think it’s more than fair for this achievement as well. First off, you do need a stone first, so make sure you have the stone you want to duplicate. Go to a PC Box, save your game, and then attach the stone you want to duplicate to a Pokemon. Desposit the Pokemon into the box you are currently in. If the box is full, change boxes, exit the PC, and save again, just so you don’t screw anything up. Anyway, after depositing the Pokemon, change boxes. When you change boxes, the game will ask if you want to save. Say “yes” and when the game says “Your game is being saved,” reset your emulator/game. Make sure you do this after the “Saving your game” message has been shown in full. Afterwards, relaunch your game. Check your party. If the Pokemon is still in your party (the one you deposited), so far so good. Then check the box you put it into. If it is there too, you have succeeded. If it’s just in your party and not the PC Box, you turned off your game too early. If the pokemon is in the PC Box but not your party, your turned off the game too late. Keep trying and eventually you will get it. This method essentially clones the Pokemon, including the item it was holding which means it is technically a faster way to get stones, albeit a bit sketchy. But again, the way I see it, it’s a glitch with the original game and cartridge. If speed runners can use glitches for world record speed runs, you should be able to use glitches for retroachievements, as long as you stick to the original game’s source material, which you are.

IV. Happiness Evolution

There are only 5 pokemon you need to evolve via Happiness; Togepi, Golbat, Eevee twice, and Chansey. There are others that also evolve with happiness, but you don’t need to evolve them because you can get their evolutions faster than you could via the happiness route. The best way to check your happiness is by putting that pokemon in the front of your party and go to the Happiness Checker in Goldenrod City (north of the Bike Shop). The lady there will tell you how happy your Pokemon is. If she says “I get the feeling your pokemon really trusts you,” you are pretty much there and your pokemon will evolve in one or two levels. Any lower than that, you have a ways to go. The best way to raise your Pokemon’s happiness is by walking around with it in your party. It technically increases the least amount of happiness, since it requires a lot of steps for one increase, but if you just put the pokemon in your team while you go around and complete different parts of the game, it will significantly do a lot of the work for you. You can also increase happiness by increasing a Pokemon’s level, giving it haircuts in Goldenrod, groomings in Pallet Town, and by giving it vitamins (like Calcium, Carbos, Protein, etc). Again, my advice is to just work on these pokemon one at a time as you go through the game, and check the happiness checker often. When you get a good rating, make it go up one level, and you should be good.

V. Remember, YOU ARE ON AN EMULATOR

Much like the stone duplication, this is also kind of sketchy advice, but I think this is all fair game just in the nature of RetroAchievements. But, you can use the fact that you are on an emulator to your advantage and speed up the process. First of all, the speed-up function makes grinding pokemon levels and getting through areas in general, a lot faster. Some people see this as cheating…I don’t. It makes it faster, but it’s by no stretch of the imagination, cheating. Speed up doesn’t make things easier, just faster. If anything, speeding up can actually make you miss something, and if you are playing a platforming game…..yeah…good luck, no way you can make use of speed-up in that case. But if you don’t like using it, don’t use it, I’m not telling you to. Just suggesting that it is a faster way of going through the game.

Aside from speed up, there are a few other things you can do. For one, if your emulator is programmed to follow your computer’s system clock, you can change the time on your computer clock to change the TIME and DAY of your game. This is helpful for catching Pokemon that only appear at a certain time of day, to move forward to the next Bug Catching Contest or next Moon Stone drop…and a plethora of other things. Don’t feel like you have to wait an entire week just for another moon stone….just change the clock and get it instantly. Again though, if you feel wrong by doing it, don’t do it, but it is an option and isn’t really cheating.

VI. Closing Thoughts

I don’t really have much else to say here. I could go into more detail about catching the legendary beats or give a run-down of how I approach going through the game, but I covered the basics of how to get everything and where and went in further detail about all of the “trouble spots” or the spots where people seemed to have a bit of confusion. If you do need help with anything else, there are two really great websites of information for this game and Pokemon in general in the form of Serebii or Bulbapedia. They can help you the rest of the way. I’m just helping in the nature of getting this really intimidating RetroAchievement.